Quasi Official - Saban bury the hatchet thread!

Discussion in 'The Tiger's Den' started by houtiger, Mar 15, 2008.

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Are you "over" Saban going to Alabama?

Poll closed Apr 14, 2008.

  1. Yes, he's just another coach in the SEC West.

    16 vote(s)
    25.8%

  2. Yes, mostly over it, but secretly I'll enjoy beating Bama more than other West teams.

    33 vote(s)
    53.2%

  3. No, I'm not over it, and I'll dog him as long as he's still a coach.

    9 vote(s)
    14.5%

  4. Other, please explain below.

    4 vote(s)
    6.5%
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  1. ccgw

    ccgw luv'em Tigers

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    Most of the LSU fans' negative reaction to Saban were due to his going to Bama. But now that LSU has continued to do well or even better under Miles , I suspect that has muted down that reaction (so far). I can bet the fan's reaction will reintensify if he is successful in reviving the Bama program.

    I will always remember him as the coach that jumpstarted the LSU program. I used to buy into his teachings about commitment, etc to his players; but his disappointing character flaws...lies, ego, dissing of Miles has taken away a lot of the shine in his accomplishments at LSU from my memory banks.
     
    ccgw, Mar 16, 2008
    #21
    1 person likes this.
  2. ccgw

    ccgw luv'em Tigers

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    The way fRAn abandoned Bama and his players was a lot worse than Saban taking the Bama job. In a way I can understand why Saban wanted to leave the pros and go to Bama as that seems to be as good a job or offer one can get at that time. I was happy that fRAn get kicked out of A&M as he sure was a real prick.
     
    ccgw, Mar 16, 2008
    #22
  3. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    Any time a former coach at your school comes back as a rival coach there is going to be some hostility. I remember when Paul Dietzel returned to Tiger Stadium as the head coach of South Carolina. He's been gone over a decade and LSU had done just fine with his sucesssor Charlie Mac, but there was still the big boo.

    If Alabama had played Texas A&M under Francionne, the animosity would have been huge. Think if they played him every season--he'd become the icon for fan rage. It has always been this way.

    Nick was a fool to leave LSU and eveyone knows it, Nick has even said it obliquely, considering his position. "We missed college football" is code for 'We missed LSU football". The LSU job was just not available when he quit Miami or he'd have been back here . . . guaranteed. But we had already found a coach who was doing even better than Nick.

    I can't blame him for choosing the next best school available. Bama is a damn fine place to coach football. But perhaps he should have considered that choosing a school in the west division of the SEC would mean playing LSU on an annual basis. It was his choice, but choosing it meant that it would forever alter his legacy at LSU.

    He went from an honored and respected former coach who took LSU to the top to a threatening rival coach who is trying to take something from LSU . . . each and every year. Nick made his own bed and he has to live in it.

    I'm not a Nick hater. You've never heard the anti-Nick invective from me around here. In fact, every time I see it I think it is juvenile and moronic and frankly I have negatively judged many of the posters here on that alone. Some have revealed themselves as childish dimwits, in my opinion.

    In time, things change. After 20 years Paul Dietzel was forgiven by the fans and returned to LSU as AD. He now gets a big cheer when he is introduced on the field in Tiger Stadium along with other former coaches. In time, Nick will become just another Alabama coach in our minds, not an LSU coach in a crimson shirt on the wrong sideline.

    But if he becomes an annual nemesis at Bama, he may never mellow into a respected and applauded former LSU coach returning to Tiger Stadium in his retirement years to wave at the crowd. But, if things don't work out at Bama and Nick is able to embrace LSU again as alumni coach, just like Dietzel, Nick will regain much of his well-earned legacy at LSU, be embraced by the fans again, and be cheered in Tiger Stadium.

    But until then, he's the enemy . . . just like Tuberville, Richt, Meyer, Nutt, Fulmer . . .
     
    red55, Mar 16, 2008
    #23
    2 people like this.
  4. houtiger

    houtiger Founding Member

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    Red,

    Helluva great post, your best one in the last year, I think! :geaux:
     
    houtiger, Mar 16, 2008
    #24
  5. charlie_c0756

    charlie_c0756 Founding Member

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    Satan...uh Saban is now coaching an up and coming team at Alabama. When at LSU, I loved him. When he lied and left and then lied again and took the Bama job, I realized (and so did he) that he made a serious mistake. Only a few years will pass and we'll all know if he really is a great coach. He will NEVER be welcome at Tiger Stadium. With that said, I'll never forgive him, but I'll TRY to forget him.
    By the way, I love Miles.
     
    charlie_c0756, Mar 16, 2008
    #25
  6. CParso

    CParso Founding Member

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    I wasn't upset that Saban left LSU, but thought he handled it poorly. I wasn't even upset that Saban came back to the SEC West, but once again it was the way he handled it - taking credit for all of LSU's success even after he left, having a press conference on the day of our sugar bowl game, etc.

    Personally, I want him to fail at Bama and thoroughly enjoy watching LSU beat them because I don't want people to view Saban as the only reason LSU football is where it is. Saban did a lot for our program but our program did more for him, and his lack of high-level success at Bama shows that.
     
    CParso, Mar 16, 2008
    #26
    1 person likes this.
  7. luvdimtigers

    luvdimtigers Founding Member

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    I agree, it's the press conference after the sugar bowl game and all that other stuff. For me, it was his actions and statements after taking the bama job that soured me. Before that, I felt like Red, if he missed college, how could he not take the bama job? Now, it's a little more personal.
     
    luvdimtigers, Mar 16, 2008
    #27
  8. luvdimtigers

    luvdimtigers Founding Member

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    oh yeah, knowing that he would be in the same division as LSU, and knowing that to have the kind of success he wanted meant we couldn't, made me realize in his mind, LSU was nothing but a job, no emotional attachment.

    Granted, I was stupid to think it was ever anything more than that.
     
    luvdimtigers, Mar 16, 2008
    #28
  9. Sourdoughman

    Sourdoughman TigerFan of LSU and the Tigerman

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    Who's Saban?
    Oh, Lou Saban!!
     
    Sourdoughman, Mar 16, 2008
    #29
  10. bhelmLSU

    bhelmLSU Founding Member Staff Member

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    Saban was unhappy in the NFL and coming back to the premier league in college football was his only option. No opening in the East and Bama was the only team who was going to give up the kind of $$$$ he wanted. I am sure it was a little more complicated than what you are saying but it is your feelings.

    Smart businessmen know how to set aside their emotions in making financial and life decisons.
     
    bhelmLSU, Mar 16, 2008
    #30
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